for a time,--then I
lay down upon the soft coverlets in my palace, I abandoned myself to
repose,--and my heart began to be overtaken by slumber; when, lo! they
gathered together in arms to revolt against me,--and I became weak as
a serpent of the field.--Then I aroused myself to fight with my own
hands,--and I found that I had but to strike the unresisting.--When
I took a foe, weapon in hand, I make the wretch to turn and
flee;--strength forsook him, even in the night; there were none
who contended, and nothing vexatious was effected against me." The
conspirators were disconcerted by the promptness with which Amenemhait
had attacked them, and apparently the rebellion was suppressed on the
same night in which it broke out. But the king was growing old, his son
Usirtasen was very young, and the nobles were bestirring themselves in
prospect of a succession which they supposed to be at hand. The best
means of putting a stop to their evil devices and of ensuring the future
of the dynasty was for the king to appoint the heir-presumptive, and at
once associate him with himself in the exercise of his sovereignty. In
the XXth year of his reign, Amenemhait solemnly conferred the titles and
prerogatives of royalty upon his son Usirtasen: "I raised thee from the
rank of a subject,--I granted thee the free use of thy arm that thou
mightest be feared.--As for me, I apparelled myself in the fine
stuffs of my palace until I appeared to the eye as the flowers of my
garden,--and I perfumed myself with essences as freely as I pour forth
the water from my cisterns." Usirtasen naturally assumed the active
duties of royalty as his share. "He is a hero who wrought with the
sword, a mighty man of valour without peer: he beholds the barbarians,
he rushes forward and falls upon their predatory hordes. He is the
hurler of javelins who makes feeble the hands of the foe; those whom
he strikes never more lift the lance. Terrible is he, shattering skulls
with the blows of his war-mace, and none resisted him in his time. He is
a swift runner who smites the fugitive with the sword, but none who run
after him can overtake him. He is a heart alert for battle in his time.
He is a lion who strikes with his claws, nor ever lets go his weapon.
He is a heart girded in armour at the sight of the hosts, and who leaves
nothing standing behind him. He is a valiant man rushing forward when
he beholds the fight. He is a soldier rejoicing to fall upon the
barbarians: